Cliff Richard to play free show in New York for Morrissey fans

Sir Cliff Richard performing live in concert at Wembley Arena, north London.

The veteran British singer promises "a real nice evening"

Cliff Richard has announced a free headline show in New York after his Morrissey support show was cancelled.

The singer will play The Gramercy Theatre on June 21, and ticket holders for the original show at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center will be let in as a priority. The gig will then be first come first served. For more details, visit CliffRichard.org.

Announcing the news of the new free show via a video message on Facebook, Richard commented: “I know that many of you are disappointed because the New York concert is cancelled, but what can you do? Morrissey is not well. I am also disappointed… I’ve decided I’m going to go anyway to New York and I’m going to put on an evening. It won’t be the show I had planned to do at Morrissey but it could be a real nice evening… I hope I’ll see you and we’ll get over our disappointment together.”

Morrissey was recently forced to postpone live dates in Atlanta, Baltimore and Washington. He then cancelled his entire US tour to give him time to recover from his bout of ill health, which included his show with Sir Cliff.

Speaking to NME in February, the veteran performer said he was surprised to have been asked to play with Morrissey at all. He said: “I was surprised myself when I got the call. I told my management, You’d better check this out because we’re poles apart, really. I was worried it might be a joke.”

“I know what I’ve let myself in for. Dropping in on someone else’s audience is one of the most difficult things to. But I did Google him and up came a very nice shot from an outdoor concert. The audience looked – dare I say this – really nice. They were good looking women, there with their husbands or boyfriends or whatever, and they were swaying and mouthing lyrics. I thought, ‘Wait a minute, my lot do that’. So it may not be as difficult as I anticipate it might be.”